Aftermath
by MajorBalto 243
Summary: Will Balto and his comrades fight to get back home, or will they give up the will to live? Rated M AU
1. Chapter 1

**_Aftermath_**

"FIRE!"

Master Chief is behind the wall and firing into the doorway.

He hears Cortana sigh heavily. "What?"

Cortana starts to laugh. "How about instead of trying to kill them all, you could, oh I don't know, try to suppress them. They don't need to die! They just want to go home! And besides, maybe there is more of—WATCH OUT!"

Master Chief spots the grenade and runs down the hall to escape the blast. He hears the deafening explosion behind him.

Cortana sighs again. "I'll help them while you try to not get blown up."

Master Chief starts to chuckle. "Alright. Go ahead. I'll go find the Arbiter so he can help us with our problem."

"Is it gone?!"

"Balto, I think we got him."

"Good job. Jakob, help me open this door."

"Oh I don't think that's necessary."

Balto turns his head and sees an AI standing on the main computer.

Balto walks over and growls. "What the fuck do you want?!"

The AI starts to laugh. "I see you're the one with the bad attitude. Anyway, I'm here to help you."

Balto frowns at her. "Why would you help us?"

The AI smiles at him. "Because you might be useful."

Balto starts to laugh. "Oh really? Well we have a thousand soldiers on the other side of that door! And as soon as that door opens, they'll rush right in and kill that…thing out there!"

The AI starts to laugh again. "I like you. You use threats and firepower to manipulate a battle. But I'm an AI and you can't trick me. There are only four soldiers on the other side of that door. Now before you ask how I knew that, I also know this; you were planning on escaping; not fighting here. You and the soldiers in this room have no spirit. You might as well surrender, but I'll let you escape before the Spartan comes here and kicks your ass. Now get going."

Balto hears the door on the right unlock. He turns and sees Hunter, Ryan, Star, and Nikki standing in the doorway.

Balto smiles and shouts out "Pack it and move" before running into the hallway.

Kaltag is running down the hallway as fast as he could. He turns his head to his left and sees Alex is running right next to him. He sees Alex's face. He sees the sadness in his expression.

Alex starts to laugh. "Balto, you may be the fastest, but you aren't one known for sense of direction."

Balto shakes his head. "Shut up! All the doors that lead to the outside are locked!"

Over the intercom, the AI starts to laugh. "The Spartan and the Arbiter need your help. We know what you went through on the other installations, but you can save the whole galaxy if you help us."

Balto growls in anger. "Damn AI creation! Why us?! We didn't do anything to you!"

Kaltag hears the AI chuckle. "Humanity needs you. If you want to survive this place then I suggest that you turn left at the end of the hall."

Balto sighs and he follows the AI's instructions to the letter. As soon as he got to the end of the hall, he made a sharp left turn and the others followed.

After awhile, Balto hears the AI on the intercom again. "Enter the room on the right and wait for the Master Chief and the Arbiter to come in."

Balto stops abruptly and growls. "Who the fuck is this Master Chief?!"

He hears the AI laugh at him. "Why, it's the Spartan."

Balto sighs and starts to run towards the room that is supposedly on the right side of the hallway. After about two minutes, Balto sees a door with a green light above it. He runs towards it and the door opens automatically. He walks into the room and shakes his head.

He walks into the middle of the room and growls. "This is fucking stupid! This is probably an execution."

Kaltag starts to laugh. "Balto, you think everything is an execution. Perhaps this will get us home."

Ryan looks at the door and frowns. "Maybe we should lock the door."

Balto shakes his head. "No, that damn AI…no offense…will just unlock the door and they'll probably come in shooting. So Ryan, shut up."

Ryan shrugs his shoulders and walks away from the door. Kyle keeps watching the door and sees tow figures are on the other side of the door.

Kyle turns to Balto and smiles. "They're here."

Balto smiles at Kaltag. "Flip the tables. We'll use them as cover if we have to."

Kaltag nods his head. "Will do sir."


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

Master Chief is on the other side of the door with the Arbiter and he hears something on the other side of the door.

He listens closer and he hears "Switch on the camouflage."

Master Chief shakes his head and looks at the Arbiter. "You ready?"

Arbiter nods his head and Master Chief opens the door. As they walked inside the room they see…nothing! Master Chief looks around and he sees something move near the wall. He activates his night vision and sees one of the soldiers that had been firing at him in the control room.

Master Chief shakes his head. "I see you."

The cloaked figure near the wall becomes visible and turns towards Master Chief.

Master Chief stares at him. "So what's your name?"

The soldier stares back. "My…My name is…is Ryan."

Master Chief nods his head. "Ryan huh. Well Ryan, where are your buddies?"

Ryan looks around the room. "I don't know."

Master Chief hears his radar go off and he turns around and sees the barrel of a shotgun aimed at his head. He shakes his head and grabs the barrel and rams the dog in the face. The dog spits out blood and falls to the ground.

The dog looks up at him and growls. "Mother fucker! I…"

Ryan starts to laugh. "Kyle, you got your ass handed to you!"

Kyle pushes himself to his feet. "Fuck you Ryan!"

Master Chief hears the Arbiter gasp in shock. Master Chief turns around and sees six other soldiers in the room.

Cortana sighs heavily. "So it looks like you met. Well Master Chief, they are here to help you. They know theses Installations inside and out. Play nice."

Master Chief sees the leader shake his head. "That's not exactly…Oh whatever. We'll get you to wherever you need to get to I guess."

Master Chief nods his head. "Good. We need to get onto Installation 04. We have to destroy it."

The leader shrugs his shoulders. "Alright. What do you want us to do?"

The Arbiter looks at Installation 04. "Meet us near the control room on 04. We will catch up with you later."

The leader shrugs his shoulders. "Ok then. We'll be waiting."

**A/N: Sorry this chapter was so short. I'll try to make the next chapters longer. R&R**


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

Balto, Alex, Kaltag, Nikki, Star, Ryan, Jakob, and Kyle are waiting in the control room of the newly created Installation 04. The control room is huge. Balto is typing something on the keyboard when he comes across something. He looks closer and starts to laugh.

Alex looks at him and frowns. "Why are you laughing?"

Balto turns his head towards him and smiles. "Alex, out of all my years of fighting and being part of some war, I would have never thought that I would be aiding the humans."

Alex nods his head. "You and me both, brother."

Balto turns his attention back towards the computer. He starts to type and all the sudden, the map they were looking at starts to break down until one section remains. Balto turns his attention back to his comrades who are looking at the map in awe.

Balto smiles at them all. "Comrades, we…have found Eden and Nod. When we help this…Master Chief, we shall return home. Maybe we can convince our people that the war…is now over."

Kaltag raises his paw into the air. "Yeah! I'm done with fighting. Maybe for once in the history of Eden and Nod, we can finally disband the military."

Balto smiles at Kaltag. "Kaltag, I agree with you. Now let's wait for word from Master Chief. I'm getting bored. Ryan, Alex, Kyle, and Jakob. I want you at both entrances to this facility. I don't want to be caught off guard by the…parasitic virus. Get a move on!"

Alex, Ryan, Kyle, and Jakob salute and they leave the control room. Star walks up to where Balto is and looks up at the computer.

Star shakes his head. "This may tell us where Eden is, but it doesn't tell us how to get there safely."

Balto starts to laugh. "Star, maybe we aren't destined to return to Eden. Maybe…Maybe we're supposed to help this Master Chief. Maybe we're supposed to save humanity at the cost of our lives."

Star sighs in despair. "Sir, I have followed your command for 10,000 years. And I'll follow you all the way to the afterlife. You are my superior and I'll die for you just so you can make it back to Eden. And when you make it to Eden, tell the people that we died for them."

Balto turns his head towards Star and frowns. "Star, if you and the others die, then I might as well be dead. We survive together and we shall die together. Now let's wait for the human and the…the…the other one to arrive."

Star nods his head and returns his gaze upon the map.

At the entrance of the facility, Kyle and Jakob look upon the polar regions of the Ark. Kyle looks up and sees some dispersal pods falling to the ground below. Kyle watches as they hit the snowy ground and they release the virus. Kyle turns around and sees Alex, Hunter, and Ryan talking near the control panel to the door.

Kyle yells out, "LOCK THE DOOR! THE VIRUS IS HERE!"

Alex looks over at him and sees the pods falling to the ground.

Alex looks back at Kyle and Jakob and shouts "RUN! RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!"

Kyle and Jakob sprint towards the doorway as the giant door is closing. As it's about to close, Kyle and Jakob manage to slip through and the door locks behind them.


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4_

Balto, Star, Nikki, and Kaltag are looking upon the map that shows the whole ring. Balto touches where the control room is and that part of the ring separates from the others and it enlarges itself and Balto sees that there's a crashed… "What the hell is that thing?"

He 'zooms' in and sees the alien and Master Chief are grabbing weapons from the crashed ship.

Balto looks at Kaltag and smiles. "The…Wait! Didn't he destroy the previous Installation 04?"

Kaltag shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know."

Alex, Ryan, Kyle, Jakob, and Hunter run into the control room.

Alex approaches Balto and says, "Sir, the virus has arrived. If that human and his alien friend don't show up quickly, we will die here."

"Relax Alex. They have arrived. Hopefully…what the fuck is going on now?!"

Kaltag looks at what Balto had spotted and sees a jeep-like vehicle with a machinegun on the back. He watches as it goes down the slope and stops. A man gets out and a floating orb starts to follow him and they start heading towards the front entrance of the control room.

Balto moves the ring piece around until he sees Master Chief and the alien are blasting their way through the virus and making their way to the control room.

After thirty minutes of waiting, Master Chief, the alien, the black human, and the orb-thing are trying to work on the door.

Balto looks at Alex and smiles. "Hey, at least they are trying."

Alex starts to laugh. "It's do or do not. There is no try."

Balto frowns at Alex. "Uh…alright then. Hey Kaltag!"

"What is it sir?"

"Check up on our ammo and grenades. We'll need them if the virus breaks in."

"You got it."

Kaltag walks over to the ammo and grenade boxes and opens them up.

After awhile, he looks back at Balto and asks, "Do we need the HE grenades?"

"Yes."

"Ok. What about the Chryogrenade?"

"Um…maybe."

"Ok. What about the pyrogrenade?"

"Possibly."

"Ok then. What about the disintegrating grenade?"

"Uh…probably not."

"You got it. What about the disorientating grenade?"

"No."

Kaltag nods his head and closes up the boxes.

He looks back at Balto and smiles. "Well, that takes care of that."

Balto nods his head and keeps staring at the map. Suddenly, he hears the front door open.

He looks at Alex and points towards the hall. "Go find them. And be quick about it."

Alex salutes and runs off into the hallway to find Master Chief, the alien, the black man, and the orb.


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5_

Balto sees the black man enter the control room followed by the orb. After awhile, Master Chief and the alien enter the control room as well. Balto sees the black man walk over to the main console and start typing and pressing buttons. Suddenly, the orb glows red and shoots him in the back. It twists around and shoots the alien out of the room. Then it releases a pulse wave and Balto, Kaltag, Nikki, Star, Alex, Jakob, Kyle, Hunter, and Ryan are knocked out of the room. Balto hits the wall hard and as his vision becomes blurry, he sees the door shut in front of him.

The alien is trying to find a way inside the control room. He's looking for panels and he keeps trying the wall panel to unlock it, but they always end up not working.

Finally, Balto becomes tired of watching the alien fail and says, "The door is locked from the other side. You can't get in from here."

The alien turns around and growls at Balto. "You may have given up, but I have not. Now you can either sit there and do nothing or you can help me."

Balto sighs heavily. "Fine."

He walks up to the door and slams his paw on it.

He looks back at the alien. "There. I tried. And obviously, it didn't-"

Unexpectedly, the door unlocks and it slowly opens.

The alien looks at Balto and chuckles. "So you do have your uses."

Balto growls at him. "Hey fuck you!"

The alien starts to laugh and as the door opens completely, Master Chief runs right out and the control room falls apart completely. The doors lock behind them and Master Chief is shaking his head.

The alien looks at Master Chief and says, "I'm sorry Spartan…"

Balto ignores him and he and the others walk down the hallway.

Balto and the others are walking out of the facility when it starts to randomly explode here and there. Balto hears Master Chief and the alien are running and he starts to sprint out of the facility. Ryan turns and gets attacked by the virus. One of the combat forms pins him to the ground and Hunter watches his own brother get gutted by the thing. He stands there in shock and that's when Balto runs back over to him and pulls him out of the facility.

Alex looks up and sees the virus is fighting the sentinels of the Installation.

He turns to Kyle and frowns. "When did they learn to do that?"

"I don't know."

Alex shakes his head and looks back towards the entrance. He sees Balto, Hunter, the alien, and Master Chief leave the facility.

Master Chief looks at Balto and says, "You and your soldiers follow me and the Arbiter. We'll get you out of here."

Balto sighs heavily. "You're right. We'll follow you."

Master Chief nods his head and he runs up an icy slope. Balto watches as Arbiter does the same thing. Balto shakes his head and he runs up the slope as well. What surprised him the most was the fact that the ice wasn't really smooth. When he ran up it, he didn't slide around and fall over, but he ran up as if it was dirt. He looks back and sees the others do the same thing. After they all make it on top of the ledge, they run after Master Chief and Arbiter to help him with his quest.

Balto and the others follow Master Chief and Arbiter through another part of the facility and they blast through the virus. They turn and they go down a corridor that leads to the outside again. Master Chief looks and sees one warthog. He looks back and sees that the dogs are doing something. All the sudden, they have these armored…bikes that have weapons on them. The bikes look like miniature cars except they have two wheels and the windshield goes from the front of the bike all the way to the back. On the sides, there are rocket pods and the front has machineguns. He looks at the riders and sees that they are wearing helmets. Master Chief shakes his head and he gets in the driver's seat of the warthog. The Arbiter gets on the machinegun and they drive off and are followed by the others.


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6_

Balto is following Master Chief and Arbiter on the XSH-78 assault bike. The bike has tow rocket launchers; one on each side, and two laser turrets on the front. The bike's top speed is two hundred miles an hour and can easily out maneuver the warthog. Balto maneuvers himself right next to the warthog. Balto turns his head and looks at Master Chief. Master Chief turns his head and gives the thumbs up. Balto nods his head and pushes the bike to maximum speed. Master Chief watches as the leader and the others ride right past him and they hit the platforms. And that's when the trouble began.

Balto is driving as fast as he can down the platforms when he hears an explosion. He turns his head and sees that the installation is tearing itself apart.

He grabs the radio and says, "Slow down! The ring is ripping itself apart!"

Jakob ignores the order and drives right past Balto. Balto watches as Jakob turns and gets flipped into the air as the section he was on explodes. Jakob's bike is flipping through the air and a tile rips it in half and it explodes. Balto turns his head and sees that the other riders slowed down when they were right next to him. The warthog drives right up to where Balto and the others were. Balto starts to laugh. He still thinks it's funny that he's helping the humans after thirty years of being persecuted by them and 10,000 years of forgetting about it.

Master Chief, the Arbiter, and the others land on a falling platform and they keep driving. Master Chief watches as the leader shoots two rockets and one flies towards a combat form while the other hits a carrier form. The carrier form is thrown off of the platform while the combat form evaporates. The leader hits a ramp and lands onto the tiles below. Master Chief and the others do the same thing. Master Chief hears the Arbiter firing the machinegun turret and destroying the sentinels that started to attack. The leader starts to fire the machineguns, but instead of bullets, lasers came out and ripped apart the flood forms that were in the way. They drive through a tunnel and the leader and his soldiers take the upper path while Master Chief and the Arbiter take the lower and safer path.

Balto is maneuvering past debris and wiping the virus off the face of the ring forever. Balto drives around a metal beam and lands onto the tiles again. He turns and the warthog pulls up right next to him. Balto shakes his head and they keep driving until they drive onto another platform and they repeat the same process again.

Thirty minutes later, Balto hears master Chief say, "We're getting closer. Forward Unto Dawn is waiting for us."

Balto grabs his radio and asks, "How big is this Forward Unto Dawn?"

Master Chief starts to laugh. "Why, do you have something bigger?"

"Probably. It's still in orbit above the Ark."

"Well, okay then."

They keep driving until Forward Unto Dawn is in their sights. Balto starts to push maximum speed. He looks to his left and sees that Master Chief is actually keeping up with him. He starts to laugh and all of them hit the ramp at the same time. Large jets of flame shoot out in front of them and Balto hears Kyle and Hunter scream as their bikes explode. Master Chief and the Arbiter land, but the warthog hits hard and rolls until it crashed into a wall. Balto and the others land, but their bikes start to roll until they crash into some boxes. Balto pushes himself out of his bike and starts to help the others as well.

After helping the others out of their bikes, Balto hears an explosion and the ship starts to tilt. Balto looks up and sees that the Arbiter is in the way of a tank. The Arbiter looks up and sees the tank is rolling right towards him. He runs away from it and the tank pursues until smashing into the wall. Master Chief runs towards where the Arbiter is and as he gets closer, he sees the Arbiter stand up. He nods his head and the Arbiter returns the gesture. The Arbiter climbs on top of the tank. He jumps off the side and runs towards the bridge. Balto, Kaltag, Nikki, Star, and Alex follow him to the bridge and the Arbiter activates the engines.

Balto turns to the others and says, "Sit down. All of you."

The Arbiter hears the others sit down and the leader sits in the copilot's seat.

The Arbiter turns his head towards Balto and says, "They have a lot of respect for you."

"And I'm thankful they listen."

"How come you want to get to this place that you called 'Eden and Nod' so much?"

"Eden is my home planet. Nod is our neighbor and ally. I want to get home because I haven't seen the planet for 7,000 years. I'm glad they follow me still. I've made some risky decisions and almost got us killed."

"I've made the same choices. I've lost thousands under my command. Maybe even millions. The decisions don't get the respect, the warrior does. So, how would you and your people like to form an alliance with my people?"

"I think my people would like that. We need more allies in the galaxy. We only have each other."

The Arbiter nods his head and the ship suddenly launches up and they begin their ascent into orbit above the Ark. Suddenly, an explosion rips apart the ring and the Ark is caught within the blast. The blast wave starts to close in on the ship and the canine assault cruiser is ripped apart by the wall of destruction. Half of Forward Unto Dawn makes it through the portal, but it unexpectedly closes and splits the ship in half. The front of the ship floats towards Earth's atmosphere and dives towards one of the oceans. After two hours of following, it finally smacks down and starts to float.

Balto looks at Kaltag and smiles. "Kaltag, welcome back to Earth."

Kaltag starts to laugh. "You too sir."

Admiral Hood had the front of Forward Unto Dawn transported to what they call 'Memorial Hill'. Lord Hood turns his head towards all who are attending; The Arbiter, Balto, Kaltag, Nikki, Star, Alex, and a bunch of soldiers.

Admiral Hood gazes upon them all and says, "For us, the storm has passed... the war is over. But let us never forget those who journeyed into the howling dark and did not return. For their decision required courage beyond measure; sacrifice, and unshakable conviction that their fight... our fight, was elsewhere. As we start to rebuild, this hillside will remain barren, a memorial to heroes fallen. They ennobled all of us, and they shall not be forgotten."

Hood places his hat back on and the marines start to do a three volley salute to the fallen. Balto watches as the Arbiter walks over to the admiral and they start talking. After a couple of minutes, Balto sees them shake hands. The admiral then walks over to Balto and the others.

The admiral says, "You did not know him well, but you helped him in the end anyways. For that, I thank you. Now, is there anything I can do for you?"

Balto smiles at him. "There is one thing; we need a ship that'll take us home again. Can you help us with that?"

The admiral nods his head. "I'm an admiral. Of course I can."

Three years later, Balto, Kaltag, Nikki, Star, and Alex have finally done it. They have found their home. They bring the ship into Eden's atmosphere and they dive into the atmosphere. After two hours, they finally land on the planet. A bunch of citizens became interested and walked over to where the ship landed to see what would come out. Suddenly, the doors open and they see the heroes that they thought had died have come home again. Balto looks upon the crowd and they all cheer and shout. He jumps to the ground and the crowd starts to yell at the top of their lungs for the heroes have returned from war.

Balto is walking through the town when he sees Sasha standing in the courtyard of New Aurora. Balto walks over to her and stands right next to her.

She shakes her head. "Can I help you with something?"

Balto sees that she isn't even looking at him.

He starts to laugh. "Perhaps."

She frowns and turns her head and sees that it's Balto. She becomes excited and hugs him. He smiles at her and hugs her back. She looks up at him and kisses him. He was taken by surprise, but soon went along with it.

This is the first time that something has gone the way it should go for Balto. He has gone through Hell and back just to come home again. He has laughed in the face of Death itself and kept going on his journey. Now he has come back home. Now, he shall start a family again. Eden's time for war is now over. They will stay out of all future wars and have even started trading routes with Earth and the Sangheilis. Whatever it takes to stop or prevent war, that's what they'll do.

The End

**A/N: Thanks to all who stuck with this story. It may get rough here and there, but the journey was worth it. If anyone wants to create a sequel, feel free to, but this is truly the end. R&R**


End file.
